A new approach to subculture : gaming as a substantial subculture of consumption.

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The study identifies how serious gamers (those who play videogames) manifested themselves as an authentic contemporary subculture in South Africa. The research took place in Durban and extended to Johannesburg, over a two year period. The study reflected an interest in the community of lived experiences that developed around the acts of gaming, a subculture with its own interests, dynamics and boundaries that differentiated itself from others. Research was informed by a theoretical focus on the work of Paul Hodkinson (2002) that permitted the usage of a postmodern subcultural model of study that could be tailored to the analysis of gaming as a contemporary subculture. In conclusion, it was identified that gaming shares many traits with a “subculture of consumption”, which is an authentic contemporary subculture, born out of the act of consumption of a mere product, much like a videogame (Schouten & McAlexander 1995; Arnould & Thompson 2005; Thompson & Troester 2002).